Michael Dawson leaves the field after being sent off. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur will feel that the fates conspired against them with players dismissed and injuries sustained to cut them adrift at the foot of the table. But Stoke City's realisation that this was an opportunity they could not pass up won them this game.

Spurs have enough skill and ability to beat most teams in this division and, even with 10 men, they were the more coherent attacking threat for much of the first half. Stoke had laboured for the first period but they shifted their back line further up the pitch to squeeze the quality from the visitors.

Gareth Bale's dismissal had changed game plans in an instant, though it is arguable that Spurs might have been better without a holding midfielder in Didier Zokora against Stoke's direct approach. What, after all, would the Ivorian be blocking with so little of City's play going to feet? Yet, if that was a tactical mistake, then Juande Ramos would have been encouraged by the way his 4-4-1 began to flourish as his side used the width to its entirety and passed the ball slickly.

Yet it was Stoke's reaction at the break that was key. Even with a numerical advantage they needed reminding that they had no need to change their natural style. Tony Pulis' side appeared to lack the confidence to tighten up the Spurs midfield of Luka Modric and Jermain Jenas but, with the wind an aid, they changed the flow of the game after the interval and pressed for the first time, moving 20 yards further up the pitch to stifle the visitors.

Andy Griffin and Danny Higginbotham were tight on their wingers, forcing David Bentley's withdrawal as passing angles were narrowed. Modric and Jenas were nullified and then overwhelmed by the muscular Salif Diao and Seyi Olofinjana.

There was no time or space for Spurs to exploit as Stoke went man-for-man and pushed them steadily back into their shells. Spurs became uneasy, defending deep with an injured Heurelho Gomes punching nervously. Stoke may have been technically inferior but they managed to turn an insipid first half performance into a forceful display thereafter and Spurs' defenders shrunk against their powerful thrusts.

This was a demoralising situation for Ramos to find his side in but he might have been better to throw Roman Pavlyuchenko into the fray earlier, particularly once it became clear that Stoke were forcing the play up the pitch. If the visitors had adopted some of the home side's tactics and gone more direct with two men up front they might have made more in-roads. Experience suggests that, when a team goes a man down it is best to have more than one target up front as a release ball to cope with the pressure that follows.

A 4-3-2, keeping the shape of the back line and going more direct, might have worked better than a 4-4-1 with Spurs maintaining their willingness to pass out of trouble. As it was, their own forays forward were only ever fitful, battling against powerful opponents, a howling wind and a sense of injustice.